I’m not sure if we have already passed the Peak of Inflated Expectations (Hype of the IoT), or if we are living in a reality long time desired by IoT pioneers, or if instead we are eagerly waiting the promises and predictions of +50 billion connected devices at the increasingly near future of 2020.

The truth is that the number of post, blogs and articles related to the Internet of Things (IoT) far from diminishing, has increased in the last twelve months. But I think this year the number of post with original content and interest have decreased or are harder to find among repetitive posts multi-published in blogs, social networks and industry or company webs.

It is normal that when something becomes fashionable as IoT, everyone wants to talk or write about it, nevertheless look like we have stalled in the absence of actual use cases to tell, still harping on the same themes but with catchy headlines.

The catchy headlines of Internet of Things

The IoT blogs ban was reopened two years ago for analyst, IT writers, advertisers, marketing departments, community managers and amateur bloggers. We have been using catchy IoT headlines and sometime ridiculous headlines to evangelize and gain traction. But know I encourage all of us to include original or informative content, not just clone of other posts.

Let’s see some good examples of catchy headlines:

The Internet of Cars – In this post we read how IoT goes much further than vehicles driving themselves.

The Internet of Robotic Things – A headline from ABI research to sell their research study that introduces the concept of the Internet of Robotic Things (IoRT).

The Internet of Tools – Joe McKendrick explains in this post, another budding application for the IoT opening up new ways to achieve precision on the factory floor.

The Internet of nearly everything – Funny web in The Guardian that allow visitors search for any thing to see what could happen when you connect it to the internet. Go on. Type something in. Like toilet

The Internet of near Things – In this post at The Telegraph, Monty Munford said that The Internet of Things promises to transform the way humanity operates and while some wearables have disappointed, our personal existence and survival is going to depend on this technology.

The Internet of Trains – In this PTC post by Alex Jablokow we read that rail operators would love sensors everywhere because they are the key technological growth area over the coming decade.

The Internet of Stars – In this post Pasi Hurry started thinking about create a Global Array, consisting of tens of thousands of amateur telescopes, all feeding data into the same Platform.

The Internet of Secure Things – The IoT includes everything from wearable fitness bands and smart home appliances to factory control devices, medical devices and even automobiles. Security has not been a high priority for these devices until now. It is now time to establish The Internet of Secure Things.

The Internet of Sports – From football to baseball and basketball to golf, the possibilities for how much the IoT can change sports are nearly endless.

The Internet of Thieves – if the rise of cybercrime in the last year is any indicator of the future, security should be treated as the indispensable keystone of the IoT, not simply a retrofitted, secondary pillar.

The Internet of Beer – SteadyServ tells you when you are running out of beer. The solution enables bar owners and bartenders to accurately measure keg contents without shaking a keg and to keep tabs on inventory without muscling through keg storage.

The Internet of Hacked Things – This article is an example of how the press has turned negative on the IoT concept, and illustrates why new technologies turn out to be harder to deploy than anyone anticipates.

The Internet of ‘Thingalytics’ – Right now, machine learning and analytics just pinpoint problems. It’s only a matter of time before machine learning paired with data visualisation will facilitate predictive problem solving.

´The Internet of me – Wearables are not a waste of time, wearables will be part of our mainstream lives.

The Industrial Awakening: The Internet of Heavier Things – “But as we study the market, looking beyond the headlines to how technology has evolved and businesses have adapted, we see a unique moment for entrepreneurs to invent the future of industry. Even at an early stage, startups that think creatively and connect with new customers can drive lasting value.

Internet of Things remains HOT, HOT, HOT

So presumably we will continue seeing many blogs, post, articles, videos, tweets, podcasts, and infographics about IOT, with good and bad headlines, with good and not so good content. It is possible that several Startups are already thinking how to store, assemble, organize, easily find and distribute the hundreds of thousands of IoT multimedia content being generated and make money out of it.

I am not sure where IOT will be next years in Gartner´s Hype Cycle graph, but I expect that we can move fast through Trough of Disillusionment, that we can see a rapid ascent up the Slope of Enlightenment and that we can reach the Plateau of Productivity during the magic 2020 year, with IoT technology broadly used in all industries. It will be then when we could see if the relevance of our catchy headlines will clearly be paying off.

We know Headlines sell, therefore we continue using them as bait to attract and retain our readers and followers. But it is important we do not forget that besides these striking or controversial headlines the content must be of interest to keep readers hooked, because otherwise I fear we all will end up losing many of our readers and loyal followers on the road.